Among the Pain
by GeenieInABottle
Summary: You've been raped. I've been abused. You've done drugs. I've cut myself. Through it all, I know you'll be by my side. The Final Chapter


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Twilight.

**A/N: **So… You saw the title and you're doing one of two things. One: You are rolling your eyes and only reading this to give a hateful review. Two: You're jumping up and down with glee. I needed to give you guys an end to this story, put the characters to rest once and for all. Writing this ending is the only way to do so. I am probably going to regret this deeply, but I have to do this. I have to. Maybe after this is done, over with, I can forget. But I can't do that until I write an end. First, I want to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry to the many of you whose respect I have lost. I am not asking for it back, I'm just asking you to listen. I AM SORRY. I'm sorry for all the stupid things I did. I know you must hate me now, but I am at least asking for your forgiveness. And if you can't forgive, I understand. Second, I want to say thank you to everyone who stuck by me with this story. Who stuck by me through the deal, who stuck by me with all the deleting, all that. Thank you. For those of you who have not read any of this story, I would prefer you not read on. It would only make sense if you read the story. Now I'm sure you want to read it, right? I'm sorry. There is no way for it to be read anymore. I lost all my old stories, they are gone. Sorry. Well, here it is. Hope you enjoy.

--

**The Final Chapter**

_Hush, hush, hush, this is where it ends. – Hush lyrics [Automatic LoveLetter]_

_**BellaPOV**_

"Are you sure?" Esme asked again.

"Yes, we're sure. This is the only way that they'll stop." Edward said in a serious tone, no expression on his face. I knew he was just as terrified as I was, I wished he'd show it.

Esme nods, hugs us both, and gives me a kiss on the forehead. "It's going to be okay." She whispers into my ear. I nod, even though I don't believe her. Esme pulls away from me. I give her another forced smile, and then look back at Edward.

"You ready to go?" Edward whispers to me.

I nod at him, give another forced smile at Esme, and then we began to walk to the car.

--

_**EdwardPOV**_

The car ride was quiet. We are on our way to Phoenix. We're going to be staying in a hotel for about two days. Then, on Saturday, we battle. I was scared, but I wouldn't dare let Bella know that. One of has to be the strong one and I knew right now that couldn't be Bella.

Life had been pretty good since Carlisle and Esme took me in. My life was like one that you read about in books, the ones Bella and I both rolled our eyes at. The type of family that you saw on TV Shows. They showed me that a good family did exist.

I wasn't going to say my life had been perfect. Well, besides that one incident with Bella, nothing else terrible had happened. But now, the thought that I might lose my Bella, made my stomach twist and tears prick in my eyes. I couldn't think that. Think positive, that's what Esme says. It was harder than it sounded, especially at a time like this.

I eased at a red light and noticed we weren't too far away from our hotel. I took this moment to steal a glance at Bella. She was staring out the window and not looking back at me. I instantly knew what she was doing. Crying. I wished she would let me see her cry, I wished she would let me comfort her. But she would never let me or anyone else see her cry.

"It's going to be okay, Bella." I whispered to her. "I won't let him lay a hand on you." Words. Words were the only way she'd let me comfort her. Even though she strongly showed me that she didn't always believe words. It was the best I could do. And I would comfort her as much as I'm allowed to.

Bella nodded slowly and through her window reflection I saw her give me a fake smile. She knows I always felt better when she smiled. But fake smiles did not make me feel any better. It made me feel that much worse.

I didn't want to look away from her but I knew I had to. I had to look at the road in front of me and keep driving because it was too late to turn back now.

--

_**Bella POV**_

I stared out the window, watching the scenery rush past me. It was all so familiar and I realized I didn't miss this place at all. It held so many horrid memories and now I could truly say Phoenix wasn't my home, Forks was. I felt safe, wanted, in Forks. And I felt anything but here.

The thought of seeing HIM again made my stomach twist in knots. I wanted to puke, hoping maybe that would make me feel a little bit better. Edward kept my window open so air hit my face and if I needed to puke. Each second that passed I hoped I would just puke everything I was feeling out. Begging for a release from this misery.

That is the main reason why I did drugs. I didn't want to face my feelings; I wanted to make the memories go away. Drugs made them go away, even for that small instant. But I didn't want them to go away for a small while. I wanted them to go away forever. So I used more and more. And the more I used, the longer the memories went away. But the one time I did go back on drugs in attempt to kill myself, it was a familiar feeling. But it didn't give me that pleasure like it used to. It made me feel dirty, unhealthy. So I never relapsed again. And I am proud of myself for being able to say that because, at one point in my life, I didn't think I ever would.

I didn't realize how much time had passed. As the car pulled to another eased stop, I was sure it was just another red light. But when I looked up and saw the hotel staring me in the face, my stomach was in knots again. I was reminded that this wasn't a nightmare, this was real. It was then that I flew the car door open and hurled it all out.

Wow. If I'm this bad now, I can only imagine how bad I'll be on Saturday.

--

I slowly opened my eyes, expecting another day of being scared and dying in our skins as we were reminded that Saturday was coming sooner. As those thoughts dawned on me, I threw off the thick, suffocating covers and dashed into the bathroom. I haven't even been awake ten minutes, and I was already puking.

Edward had a different reaction. He was quiet and his eyes were vacant. They had lost their sparkle and it killed me. I wanted things to be back to normal but I knew they would never be. But that brought me back to that one question: What _is _normal?

Edward spent every second with me. It wasn't in an annoying way or anything; it was just the way I wanted it to be. Sucking in each moment with each other, knowing that tomorrow we could wake in a half-empty bed.

That brought another question: Without Edward, would I want to live anymore? I know Edward would want me to live my life to the fullest and have a happy future. But a happy future for me would be the rest of my life and after with Edward. Life would be nothing without Edward. My life was nothing without Edward. What would happen to me if I lost Edward? Would I relapse on drugs to release me from my pain, like I did before? Or would I continue to live the way Edward taught me to?

Would Edward live without me? Did I want him to? I wanted Edward to be happy. Would he be happy without me? It would be like the greatest test of his love for me. Would he die for me? Would he drown in misery without me, like I was sure I would without him? Or would he bounce back quickly? Would he act like nothing happened? Would that just be his mask? I wanted Edward to be happy.

I sat down on the couch right next to Edward, being so close our legs were touching. He draped his arm around my waist, pulling me as close to him as possible. I rested my head on his shoulder, closed my eyes, and breathed in his scent. The cleanliness of his cologne, his natural smell. A smell I would never forget and I would recognize from anywhere. The way the sun hit his hair perfectly and the way it felt when I strummed my fingers through it. And the biggest thing. His smile. His lopsided, goofy, messy smile. I wish he'd smile like that for me today, I needed it. But I knew any real smiles today would be impossible, except the evil grins UB and HIM would be exchanging. My stomach was feeling uneasy at the thought of it and I took a few deep breaths, reminding myself I couldn't be locked in the bathroom all day today.

When Edward peeled my head off his shoulder I felt a little hurt. Did he want to be alone now? But then he crouched down in front of the TV, ran his fingers over the movies, and pulled one out. I saw the cover and instantly recognized it.

"The 70's version." He told me with a grin.

I smiled at him and knew that those would be the only real smiles of the day. Or possibly of my life, if I lost Edward. I knew Edward hated this movie, but I knew he knew I loved this movie. I smiled again at him. As he walked back over to me when the movie was starting, I knew I had to ask him this one question that was tugging at the back of my head. My only fear is that he'd laugh at me because of how I was going to put this.

Edward reached over and turned off the light, so the only light was coming from the TV. He sat down next to me just like before, only this time he pulled me on his lap. I nestled my forehead into his neck, my lips touching his skin. I played with the top button of his shirt.

"Edward?" I whispered.

"Yes, love?"

I closed my eyes and cuddled my body closer to him. "Would you be Romeo?"

"What?" There was a chuckle in his voice. He smiled down at me.

I straightened up a little. "If I were to die today, would you die, too? Like Romeo?"

He was quite for a minute and I was scared I shouldn't have asked him that. "Yes." He finally whispered.

"Why?"

"Because… My life is nothing without you. You are my life."

I nodded and said a cheap "You too" to keep from crying. The thought of losing Edward now being harder to think about.

--

_**Edward POV**_

It came too fast. Much too fast. It was here and I wasn't ready for it. I wanted to go back to earlier today, watching Romeo and Juliet with Bella. But I knew I couldn't.

Once we were at the place we agreed to meet, I whispered. "Bella?"

She didn't look at me for a second. Then she looked at me, her eyes red and puffy from crying. I unbuckled my seat belt and moved to be closer to her. I put my hand in her hair, behind her right ear. "Whatever happens today, please know that I'll always be with you. I love you."

I saw tears fill her eyes but she didn't let them fall. She bit down hard on her lip to force them back. She nodded and threw her arms around my neck.

We walked in slowly. Phil wasn't anywhere in sight but UB was standing right in the middle, arms crossed, an evil smirk on his face. I glared at him. Phil appeared from the shadows and I heard Bella's breath caught. Her hand that was intertwined with mind squeezed mine tightly. I looked over and her face was ghost white. Seeing her that way made me want to kill Phil more.

There was silence. No one made a move and we were unsure of who was going to start. After a few moments. Phil threw himself as Bella, pinning her to the wall. He sucked on her neck and I snapped. Launching at Phil in full speed, determined to beat the crap out of him. But I never reached him. UB grabbed me and threw me back.

I squeezed my eyes shut and groaned in pain. I slowly opened my eyes to see UB hovering over me.

UB hasn't changed much. He still looks the same, ugly. He still needs to brush his teeth and he really could use a shave. The only thing was he was impossibly meaner. It was harder to believe someone as dirty as him was related to someone as clean as Carlisle.

I could feel UB kicking me and I was now feeling a sharp pain in the small of my back. I hissed and balled my hands into fist. I forgot how badly this fucker could hurt me. Even worse, I forgot how bad it hurt. Not that I ever wanted to remember, anyway.

I slowly tuned my head to the right and saw Bella. I remember thinking I wished Bella would let me see her cry. Now that I have, I wished I hadn't. I clenched my jaw shut tightly. That reminded me of what I had to do.

I bounced up, knocking UB clear on the ground. I pulled him in the air with his shirt and left him dangling in the air. My breathing was uneven. I didn't know what to do with him, so I just threw him down. I did everything he ever did to me, to him.

"Doesn't feel so nice, does it?" I hissed at him.

--

_**Bella POV**_

I watched in horror. I had never seen Edward be violent before. Ever. It didn't seem real. I was torturing myself by watching, but it would be even worse if I looked down to see what Phil was doing to me. I wish I could help Edward fight, but I couldn't. I was too weak. I already felt my legs starting to give out…

--

_**Edward POV**_

That's when I looked over to check on Bella. That's when I saw it. Bella fall to the ground. I saw Phil smirk and bring out what looked to be a knife. I saw him bring it to her neck. That's when I decided I shouldn't just sit and watch.

I dashed over and pushed Phil against the mirror. I realized Phil wasn't as strong as Bella thought he was. Nothing compared to UB. He would be an easy kill. I knew that's what I had to do. What I wanted to do.

The knife fell to the ground with a clash. Still holding Phil against the wall, I reached down and grabbed the knife. I pointed it to his neck and I swear I saw his starting to sweat. At first I didn't cut him, I just brought the tip of the blade very close to his skin. Then I made a huge line from his chin down. Blood splattered everywhere. I then took the knife and stabbed it into his side, watching Phil fall down and swim in death.

"Bella, Bella, I killed him. He's gone; he won't ever hurt you again." I looked and saw Bella fully unconscious.

"Bella?" I said again in a different tone. I crouched down by her and checked her pulse.

No pulse.

"Bella?! BELLA! Bella, wake up! Bella! Bella, please! Bella, Bella, Bella." I sobbed.

Maybe I still had a chance.

I looked behind me and saw UB had bailed.

I straightened her out so she was lying on the cold ground and started to perform mouth-to-mouth, which I was now grateful Carlisle had made me learn.

In the middle of my second try, the ambulance came. One of them came and pushed me off, doing his own work on Bella. Apparently a passer heard a lot of screaming and crying, so she called 911.

I nodded and tried to control my breathing.

But I didn't look so hot, either. So when they rushed Bella out on a stretcher, they also took me out, but in less of a hurry. They wouldn't let me see Bella for three hours because they were doing work on her. In the meantime, the doctors checked me out. No serious damage done. The only damage they did – well, Phil did – was to my heart. God, if he killed her, I'll…

I'll be her Romeo.

I remembered our conversation earlier today. If they declared her dead, I would kill myself without a second thought. I needed Bella. I couldn't live without her.

They called Charlie, Esme, and Carlisle. They were all on their way up.

Renee was the first to show up. She demanded a million things. I told her what I could: She ran away to Forks to live with Charlie so she could be safe. Renee questioned what I meant by 'safe' but I knew I couldn't tell her. It was Bella's secret, not mine. But if Bella did die, who else would tell her? No one else knew that I knew of.

Renee asked me who I was. I told her I was Bella's boyfriend.

Renee asked a lot of questions. Renee asked too many questions.

Then the rest of them showed up, I guess they all carpooled. They all came barking at me with a million questions. Except for Esme and Carlisle. Carlisle came over and patted my shoulder.

"She'll be okay, son." He told me, but I didn't believe him.

Esme came over and wrapped her arm around my shoulder. I looked over and saw she had been crying. Her and Bella had always been pretty close.

The Doctor came out thirty minutes later. He shook his head, sadly. That was all I needed to see before I bolted out of there. The only thoughts on my mind were being with Bella again.

--

_Edward Anthony Cullen._

_June 20, 1992 – August 29, 2009_

_Isabella Marie Swan._

_September 13, 1992 – August 29, 2009_

_RIP._

--

**A/N: **Eh? Any good? Did this satisfy any of you? I hope Geena did not disappoint.

xo, Val.


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